Q.1) Solution (b)

The functions of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation are to scrutinize and report to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, bye-laws etc. conferred by the Constitution or delegated by Parliament are being properly exercised within such delegation.

In both the Houses, the committee consists of 15 members. It was constituted in 1953.

Q.2) Solution (a)

The President is elected not directly by the people but by members of electoral college consisting of:

• the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament;
• the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states; and
• the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

Value of the vote is determined in the following manner:

• Every elected member of the legislative assembly of a state shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one thousand in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the state by the total number of the elected members of the assembly. (Hence, it varies according to population of state.)
• Every elected member of either House of Parliament shall have such number of votes as may be obtained by dividing the total number of votes assigned to members of the legislative assemblies of the states by the total number of the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament.

Q.3) Solution (a)

Usually, the Speaker remains in office during the life of the assembly. However, he vacates his office earlier in any of the following three cases:

Article 179: Vacation and resignation of, and removal from, the offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

A member holding office as Speaker or Deputy Speaker of an Assembly—

• shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the Assembly;
• may at any time by writing under his hand addressed, if such member is the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, and if such member is the Deputy Speaker, to the Speaker, resign his office; and
• may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a majority of all the then members of the Assembly:

Provided that no resolution for the purpose of clause (c) shall be moved unless at least fourteen days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution:

Provided further that, whenever the Assembly is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution.

Q.4) Solution (c)

Right to privacy was often in news. A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on August 24, 2017 ruled that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty” and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution.

“Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution,” the SC’s nine-judge bench ruled unanimously.

Q.5) Solution (a)

Ninth Schedule

• Acts and Regulations (originally 13 but presently 282) of the state legislatures dealing with land reforms and abolition of the zamindari system and of the Parliament dealing with other matters. This schedule was added by the 1st Amendment (1951) to protect the laws included in it from judicial scrutiny on the ground of violation of fundamental rights. However, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws included in this schedule after April 24, 1973, are now open to judicial review.
• IR Coelho versus State of Tamil Nadu, 2007 – All laws (including those in the Ninth Schedule) would be open to Judicial Review if they violated the basic structure of the constitution.